ALEPPO, Syria — The Islamic State’s new offensive in Aleppo is in full swing, with dramatic changes on the battlefield a certainty; this will define and reshape the whole dynamics of the Syrian conflict, and may cause major players to recalculate their fundamental policies and strategies. The very survival of the rebel movement in Aleppo hangs in the balance, with serious implications should it be replaced by the terrorist Islamic State (IS).

There is also a personal element to the current offensive. The slogan of the Islamic State's latest campaign to rout the Aleppo rebels and capture their territory is called “revenge for our chaste women.” This hair-raising motto was chosen for two purposes: to put the fear of God into their opponents, and to rally their already frenzied fighters into even higher levels of brutality and blood thirst.

What this war slogan alludes to is the alleged rape and abuse of the wives and female relatives of IS militants after the fighters were expelled from Aleppo by a coalition of local and Islamist fighters under the banner of the Islamic Front in January of this year. Before that, IS militants were fighting and living side by side with other factions. Many had settled down with their families alongside local rebels in their towns, villages and neighborhoods.

When relations went sour and war erupted, many IS fighters were forced to flee and leave their families behind. It was the alleged cases of rape against their families that now inspire IS fighters to return with a hateful fury and vengeance that threatens to unleash new and ever more grotesque acts of barbarity onto the world’s television screens and social media. And this has the rebels exceedingly worried and frightened.